One - way
economy award flights to Europe from several east coast cities can be booked for 10k Citi ThankYou points + taxes and fees.
While
economy award flights are generally competitively priced on both charts, business and first class awards on partner airlines are almost always overpriced.
On American Airlines one - way
economy award flights can be found starting at 15,000 miles.
Qantas is offering its members a 25 % discount on
Economy Award flights over the next year.
Only 50 % of the points used to purchase non-Flex
economy award flights are refunded for cancellations
Domestic
economy award flights on United will run you 20,000 — 25,000 United miles round - trip.
Not exact matches
So if I am earning miles from credit card spending to use for a domestic round trip
economy award that requires 25,000 miles, it has to be for a
flight that I would have paid at least $ 500 for.
Because Mileage Bank miles are a bit harder to earn, it could be easier for you to use American AAdvantage miles to book off - peak
economy class
award tickets for 45,000 miles round - trip on
flights operated by American Airlines.
While a round - trip
economy class
award on a
flight operated by American Airlines will include about $ 180 in taxes and fees, an
economy award on British Airways will require about $ 520 thanks to carrier - imposed surcharges.
Just last month, they published a sale on
award flights to South America for just 50,000 SkyMiles ® round - trip in
economy and 105,000 SkyMiles ® round - trip on Delta One.
Korean Air SkyPass miles will not be a go - to for
economy class
awards, but they are a solid way to book business class
awards on Delta
flights.
If you want to book the same
award flight in
economy class, it will only be 23,000 Avios for a one - way
award booking.
When we checked in May 2017, we found future
award flights from the U.S. to Europe available from 60,000 miles (in
economy).
Most programs charge at least 35,000 miles for a round - trip
award flight to these places in
economy class.
With
award tickets starting at 4,000 - 4,500 Avios in
economy or 7,750 - 9,000 Avios in business class for any
flight less than 651 miles you'd be able to book 22
flights with that 100,000 point bonus.
Korean Air SkyPass miles will not be a go - to for
economy class
awards, but they are a solid way to book business class
awards on Delta
flights.
While we often talk about booking United business class and first class, this extra
economy award space can be extremely useful when you need to book a
flight but ticket prices are sky high.
Should you want to stop in Fiji for a longer period of time and then head elsewhere in the Pacific using American miles,
award flights to elsewhere in the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand come in at 20,000 miles in
Economy and 30,000 miles in Business Class.
These rates increase to 30,000 / 60,000 miles for
awards booked in premium
economy, and 40,000 / 80,000 miles for business class
flights.
Most programs charge at least 35,000 miles for a round - trip
award flight to these places in
economy class.
Simply looking at the United
award chart, things are already looking up: it takes just 40,000 miles each way on
flights with
Economy Saver availability, adding up to a total requirement of 80,000 miles.
This classification makes Flying Blue a go - to program for booking
economy class
award flights to Israel, Morocco, and more.
These
flights will generally be an hour or less, so unless your miles are burning a hole in your pocket it might be better to redeem an
economy ticket and save the extra miles for another (more exciting)
award redemption.
When booking
economy class
flights, you should always compare the cost of an
award ticket if you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to the cost of using points to book through the Chase travel portal.
First, by carrying a Chase United card (even the fee - free version) you have access to more saver level domestic
Economy award availability (HT: bluecat who correctly points out the availability extends to international
flights on United metal) I haven't found the difference that noticeable for the most part, but while doing some research for an upcoming Brandon Asks post I noticed it was quite useful for positioning
flights.
Saver
Economy space was available for this
flight, meaning the total for an
award came to just 40,000 miles + $ 128.90, including the $ 75 close - in booking charge that's waived for elites.
The most common
award redemption is a domestic
flight for 25,000 miles round trip in
economy class.
Saver level
economy award tickets for domestic
flights can offer good value for your miles, but they may be difficult to find.
Thanks to Korean Air's SkyTeam partner, you can book an
award flight on Air France in
economy class from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tahiti (PPT) for 60,000 Korean Air SkyPass miles.
While
award flight costs for Delta can be quite volatile, 70K miles is enough for approximately three round - trip domestic
economy awards, or one long haul international
economy award.
However, adding a short - haul
economy flight to a long - haul business or first class
flight may, as in my example, drastically reduce the number of Iberia Avios required for your
award redemption.
You can fly
economy on United or one of their partners for 30,000 miles, in business class on their metal for 55,500 miles, or in business class on one of their partners, like Lufthansa, for 70,000 miles each way (sometimes they will have sales on partner
award flights).
A United round - trip ticket in business class will only cost you 88,000 ANA
award miles, or 55,000
award miles in
economy, and ANA doesn't add fuel surcharges on United
flights.
The key thing to note is that sometimes all of the
economy saver
awards sell out before all of the business saver
awards do — and the price of the
economy award tickets are then actually higher than a business class
award seat on the same
flight.
In
economy class, the
award cost is reduced from 25,000 miles to 18,750 miles for a one - way
flight.
However, you may give up more than you would by booking an
award flight with the airline, so it's important to compare when booking
economy tickets.
Recently he found another
award flight on that same route for 42,500 points when the
economy class was booking at 70,000!
At this point, your two main options to fly to the World Cup using miles are purchasing a
flight with cash starting at about $ 800 to $ 1,000 per round trip in
economy, and then use points from a card such as the Barclaycard Arrival World Elite Mastercard to offset the charge, or search for
award flights that get you close to Russia.
This is because round - trip
flights operated by Delta and originating in the U.S. do not incur fuel surcharges, thus keeping your out of pocket expenses below $ 200 for both
economy and business class
award tickets.
At only 15,000 miles for
economy class and 30,000 miles for business class
award flights on Flying Blue partner Delta, these are among the cheapest options available.
You can book a round - trip
economy class
award flight for only 56,000 miles if
economy is more your style.
If you want to use SkyMiles to book a
flight on Air France, you're going to pay 10,000 more miles for
economy class and 30,000 more miles for business class than if you booked an
award flight on Delta.
However, you might see a particular
flight with
economy award space and then search other days and wonder why first or business never appears.
If you want to book the same
award flight in
economy class, it will only be 23,000 Avios for a one - way
award booking.
One thing to bear in mind is that there may be times when
economy flights are not available for
award redemption.
Speaking of
award availability I seem to be seeing 5 seats available in
Economy and 2 in Business for most
flights.
The
award chart lists a round - trip
flight from Los Angeles to the U.K. for 50,000 Flying Club miles in
economy and 75,000 miles in business class, which are fantastic rates.
These
flights are less than 4,800 flown miles, so Zone 5 applies, meaning these
awards cost 70,000 points in
economy and 130,000 in business.
The
award chart shows the same redemption level — 15,000 miles — for all round - trip intra-Japan
flights in
economy class, no matter the distance.
Any long - haul
economy redemption on the EarlyReturns
award chart is a good deal, but
flights to Costa Rica are particularly valuable.